Posted on 09/24/2012 10:54:02 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
I know. Foreign policy has been largely an afterthought in the presidential campaign. Iraq, for all intents and purposes, is off the radar screen entirely -- except as a Democratic talking point, Bush's misbegotten war that Obama allegedly "ended." So a post on the plight of a rather obscure Iraqi politician -- and the merits of the Kurdish region he now calls home -- amounts to so much spitting in the wind, right?
Probably. On the other hand this week's news - rampaging anti-American mobs across the Arab world, skyrocketing U.S.-Israeli tensions - has brought into sharp relief one of the main critiques of the administration's foreign policy. Its sustained efforts to mollify enemies at the expense of longtime friends has fomented a dangerous perception of American weakness, irresolution, and retreat in the Middle East - the slow-motion breakdown of a US-led order that unless reversed, will inexorably invite more destabilizing and costly challenges down the road.
From that perspective, perhaps an appeal for greater solidarity with some true Iraqi friends will not fall totally on deaf ears.
Mithal Alusi is the leader of Iraq's Democratic Nation Party. Since his return to Iraq in late 2003, Mithal has been without question the country's most outspoken and courageous champion of liberal values, unwavering in his defense of free speech, free press, free markets, religious tolerance, and human rights -- especially full equality for women.
And Mithal has walked the walk, at great personal sacrifice. In 2004, he attended a counter-terrorism conference in Israel. When he returned to Baghdad, Islamists called for his head. One-time political allies ran for cover, disavowing and abandoning him. In early 2005, Sunni extremists targeted him for assassination, in the process murdering his two sons -- Mithal's only children.
(Excerpt) Read more at shadow.foreignpolicy.com ...
I frankly don’t trust anyone in the Middle East. Today’s friend of convenience is tomorrow’s enemy. Even if Mithal is the real deal, it is hardly likely that he can change the mindset of an unruly people. Maybe that region will be different in another 5,000 years.
hanks; it’s an inmportant article
Excellent article.
Why not? We’ve got plenty of money and a lot of soldiers with nothing to do.
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